THE first ever national museum to be built in the region will be known as the Shildon Railway Village.
Shildon will house a slice of industrial history in an £8m offshoot of York's National Railway Museum.
Outline designs are being submitted to planners tomorrow and work could start in the autumn.
Up to 50,000 visitors a year are expected to flock to the new venture after it opens in 2004.
The development will combine the historic buildings and workshops of the Timothy Hackworth Museum with a new 6,000 sq ft meeting building housing 60 vehicles from the National Collection, a shop, caf, classrooms and conservation workshops.
Sedgefield Borough Council leader Brian Stephens said: "The Shildon Railway Village will bring new pride and much needed business into the area."
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